How comparisons are structured
Side-by-side tables highlight ads, background play, login, platform support, and install complexity.
Use these pages when deciding between two apps for the same phone, TV, or desktop workflow.
Pair comparisons with install guides and troubleshooting before switching your primary client.
ReVanced vs YouTube Premium
The free, open-source ReVanced patcher set against Google's paid YouTube Premium subscription. The core question is whether you would rather spend money or effort.
YouTube Vanced vs YouTube Premium
How the discontinued YouTube Vanced APK stacked up against the official YouTube Premium subscription, and what carries over now that only one of them still exists.
ReVanced vs NewPipe
Patching the official app with ReVanced, or switching to NewPipe's standalone privacy-focused client. Google account support is the line that divides them.
ReVanced vs LibreTube
ReVanced's patching model next to LibreTube, a separate frontend that streams YouTube through Piped. One keeps the interface, the other keeps Google at arm's length.
SmartTube vs ReVanced
SmartTube for Android TV and ReVanced for phones. Different screens, different apps, and rarely an either-or decision.
ReVanced vs uYou+
ReVanced on Android and uYou+ on iOS take separate routes to a modified YouTube app. Read this one if the phone in question is an iPhone.
How to Read These App Comparisons
Every comparison here answers the same underlying question in a different form: what do you give up. There is no option that is ad-free, official, private, free, and unchanged from the YouTube you already know. Each app drops at least one of those, and the useful part of a comparison is finding out which one you can live without.
Three Approaches, Not Six Apps
Before reading any individual page, it helps to know that the whole field divides into three approaches.
- Patch the official app. ReVanced applies changes to a YouTube APK you supply. The interface stays identical, your Google account still works, and the cost is that you run the process yourself and repeat it after YouTube updates.
- Replace the client entirely. NewPipe and LibreTube are separate apps that fetch YouTube content their own way. They are lighter and more private, and they cannot sign in to a Google account at all.
- Pay for it. YouTube Premium removes ads at the source, works on every platform including iOS, and pays the creators you watch. It also costs money indefinitely and offers none of the customisation the modified apps do.
SmartTube sits slightly outside that grouping, because it solves a hardware problem rather than a philosophical one: it is the client for televisions, where phone apps do not apply.
Which Comparison to Start With
If you used Vanced and want the closest replacement, start with Vanced vs ReVanced, then ReVanced vs YouTube Premium to price the alternative. If privacy is the reason you are here rather than advertising, ReVanced vs NewPipe and ReVanced vs LibreTube cover the two ways of getting it. If the device is a television, read SmartTube vs ReVanced. If it is an iPhone, ReVanced vs uYou+ is the only relevant page, since the Android options do not exist on iOS.
What These Pages Do Not Do
Comparisons here are built from documented features, platform support, and project status, using the same criteria for every app. They are not benchmarks, and no page is the result of testing every build on every device. Nothing here certifies that an app is safe; the safety methodology explains what our assessment actually covers and what it leaves to you. Where a project's status or feature set is unclear, the page says so rather than guessing, which is set out further in how we review apps.